LITTLE GEOXGE GAHAGAN CRUSHED
! UNDER WHEELS
The seven-year old son of Mr. and
Mrs. G. W. Gahagan of near Walnut
was instantly killed last Monday after
noon' wheiT the rear wheal of tha
seboo) bus on which he had bees rid
ing passed 'over his head." crushing
the skull,,, Little George, Junior, was
returning' from school and ' had just
alighted from the bus.- Child like he
was playing with another child on the
bus, swinging by his hands on the
side of the bus until the bus had gain
ed some speed before turning loose.
When fad fell, the child fell under the
bus and the rear wheel passed over
his head. His mother heard the com
motion and rushed to the scene. A
passing car from Tennessee took the
dying child to Marshall. CvD. Chand
ler, son of Mr. Jim Chandler, of the
same community, came to Marshall
with little George in his lap. " Dr. Dit
more, who happened to be in Marsh
all for the day, rushed to the car only
to find that nothing could be done.
The father was in Marshall attending
court and of course was overcome
with grief. The little body was taken
to the undertaking establishment of
Mr. GV C. Rector, where it was pre
pared for burial.
No blame was attached to the driv
er of the bus, who happened to be
William Goldsmith, as the unf ortu
nate' affair seemed to be purely an
accident. The child little George was
playing with happened to be the son
of Mr. and Mrs. Jonah Henderson,
but no one could blame anybody know
ing how 'children can see no danger
when nlaying. Little George was a
most promising child.This was his first
year at' school and last Friday after
noon at his school at Warn ut had cap
tured his audience with a fine spt
I Hi jHurentf m
nth community, 'MM leave
little sisters, June and Dorothy, and
a little five-year-old brother, Ralph
Conley.
The -funeral service were from
the home at 2:30 Tuesday afternoon
conducted by Rev. James L. Hyde of
Walnut-' Interment followed at the
Gahagan family cemetery-'
CARD OF THANKS
Mr and Mrs, G. W. Gahagan wish
through the columns of this paper to
thank their . neighbors and friends.
for the many kindnesses, shown them
at the death and burial of their little
son, G W., Jr.., . .r"t ,T ' ''.'
STATE SHOULD
rTNANCEf SCHOOLS
Hr. Maaklmr Reeomaraads Relieving
it, Reel EsUtasi .Teaesy
The Editor of Newe-Reeordi '.:'
-. I saw in your issue of October 11,
'3929, an article reciting- the many
things in which North Carolina x-
'' eels. :;.t- -iff: 'h':sy : 8"t ZV'A
The first item was, 'Worth Carolina
leads all states in the. percent of debt
. free homes", and in another item,
"North Carolina is the second state
in payment of internal revenue for
support of the Federal Government",
and several 'other - things in which
North Carolina excels other states.
r 1 . We are proud . of North Carolina
and tiie many things in which she is
taking the lead, but North Carolina
is signally failing in her tax system.
With all her great natural advantag
es and excellent achievements, she Is,
through her law making powers, al
lowing her farmers ana agricultural
classes to be burdened with a heavy
advalorem tax on real estate, ft- :W
' The advalorem system of taxation.
a AMn(il mil jmnlied In the state. I
lias - Ions' since : become anticraated, '
out of date and inadequate to carry J
out uniform' Justice under modern J
conditions in this state,. " '.- i is
In 1919, when real estate prices j
Were inflated on : account of the , g
World War, and on account of war 5
time prices for farm products, to an
enormous and fictitious value the
state through her laws re-valiied all
the real estate, as was claimed then
to place the tax .value on the land at
that the land was worth in cash, in
stead of allowing it to remain on the
tax books, as it had been for many
years, at what was called a tax valu
ation -which, put real estate, or was
intended to put . real r.te on an
equitable foot"rr flih other taxable
property! And t e people were -told,
at that time, that a h'jh -'-valuation,
on rtJ ertate would not t i their
tie- ss the rate woe' i Is I ' "!,
b'-t i I cf a lv r i .vy
, ',;'' t
OF. SCHOOL-TRUCK
values have decreased' until the value
of land aa an investment has been de
stroyed. n t"t"WM ' ''-'
The land owners cannot rent their
lands and give the tenants what they
should have for cultivating the lands
and realize as rents a sufficient a
mount to pay the taxes and; anything
like" a. reasonable interest, on what
the land ought to be worth, taking in
to consideration what it cost the own
er. . ; "' . -: . '.. '.' ''
For the last several years the own
ers of small homes have been unable
to . pay : the high taxes assessed on
their lands, and tnousanoa oi ianns
have been sold and bid in by the
rniintiM for the taxes, and now suits
are being brought to foreclose on the
tax certificates, which will turn
thousands of farmers of the state
out of their homes.
- The smaller and poorer counties
are suffering more than the larger
counties where wealth iaconcentrat
ed, on account of the inequality of
taxes levied on real estate for school
purposes and the smaller and poorer
counties whose Ijaxable properties
consist principally of real estate, have
complained in vain for relief.
The time has come for relief from
High Land taxes and from the ine
quality of land tax levy for school
purposes between the wealthy and
poor counties.
The first and fundamental remedy,
as I see it, is to let the state of North
Carolina take over the public school
system and finance it without a levy
of taxes on real estate in any county.
The state can find a way to finance
the public schools from other sources
ftuui lavvtnff a tax on real estate by
the counties that will do justice to all
the neonle alike.
. It is estimated that the state of
Nrth Carolina owes one hundred and
1 seventy-five million bonded indebted-
l....'..J fW Vha Aiintib mnnici-
WH0P, -WM, - - - 1
palities and districts f the state owe
four hundred millions, bonded, faidebt-
antsi!a)tf!taie- tax, r-tw
sources-si
come tax. license' tax, .:
cmseieaav
automobile tax and gasoline tax, can
men well afford to take, over the free
school system' and finance it without
a levy on real estate by the counties,
and leave to (.the various counties
their real estate and personal proper
ty on which to levy a tax to pay off
the: four hundred and fifty million
bonded indebtedness,- owed by the
counties, and finance the county gov
ernment. ' '.-;
It is admitted that there is pros
perity in North Carolina among a
large class of people, the state is
oayine the second revenue tax of any
state in the Union, and the banking;
industry of the state; is growing by
leaps and bounds, and the industrial
development of the, state ; is growing
year by year, but 4h 'prosperity is
not reaching the .farmer nor the. la
boring class .of the state. . So why
permit the farmer and the laboring
class of people to bear the greater
burden of taxation? ; ; .
I - endorse what the ; county com
missioners of Madison, County said
at their .last meeting-in regard to
hiarh taxes and in rearard to, not call
ing an extra session of the legislature
at this nmevf',i.i -vy.!-i
The thing to do is to let the people
of the various counties assemble jn
mass meetings and decide what they
want in regard to the matter, create
a sentiment among the neonle and se
lect members to the next session of
the general assembly who accords in
view, with the people of his county,
and by doing that the "next session of
the General Assembly, there will be
a remedy found to cure the evils of
an excessive tax on real estate. - -
When the state7 finances the public
schools without a tax on real estate,
for that purpose, then the age old
evil of an inequality tax on real es
tate between the poorer counties and
wealthier counties will be removed
and the tax system of the state can;
be amended to suit the present con
ditions ; and the . changes that have
ben mae in the state from an agri
cultural to. an Industrial stat. -
r 1- v?4 C. B. MASHBURN.
NOTICE
m i
II"
S!
To all who have not paid 51
Sjirou .1929 tax, j
remember
J that two per I cent penaty 5
Jwill be added on the second :
S day of MarcK Remember
I that your land will be adver-;
; ised after the first Monday
SfciUay. .-K
. -
Respect?ullyr
B. E: GUTHRIE, s
The Home Of The Soul
I would plead for at leasts one
church service- for: all,' of whatever
creed . or no . creed. Even dressing,
going, and coming, bells, incidental,
meetings with friends, that strengthen
the social bond, giving instead of the
weekly 'lust of .'getting, all help by
lifting us out of unwonted routine,
and bringing j the' grateful, rest of
change,, and i pulling new stops and
playing unused registers In the soul's
THE PUBLISHER'S COLUMN
oABOUTfpIOUS MATTERS
EXPLAINING THE FRENCH BROAD JETTIES
, , ... . .... - :-
LAST week we opened the iVy jfor an explanation of the
bill before Congress relative f to removing the .jetties
from the French Broad. liver; introduced by Congressman
Pritchard recently. Our seeking ai explanation from Mr.
Pritchard has opened up a bit of history that we had no
knowledge of before talkinif'with him. It seems that in
1883 an attempt was made ta;make the French Broad riv
er navigable. The idea was .fyf deepen the current of the
stream by placing jetties on the sides of the river. For
some reason, the project was abandoned after perhaps one
boat had been run over part M the river. However, the
jetties that were built remain?s mementoes of the under
taking, and instead of deep&iing the channel of the
stream, have had a tendencytd fill up the river, causing it
to overflow the lowlands dah$iihg some 200,000 acres of
land in Buncombe, Henderson? and Transylvania counties.
The purpose of the bill is .ta rjpve these jetties.
OTHER BILLS OF CONGRESSMAN PRITCHARD
WO other bills which have; blen introduced in Congress
. by Mr. Pritchard are as 16111 ...
1. A bill to compensate' 411 disabled soldiers oi tne
World War whether or not
ability was caused py service'Heexplains that, quite, a,
number of ex-soldiers are disat led-but cannot prove that:
their 4i3ability was due td serviccl Uriderthe bill, a man
would receive, benefits,, hid disability: was contracted
while h was: a soldier, ,f egafdiss of how such disability
jama v,imv(h. jt ..i! x .'
farr f acethie of their adjusted 'ieivlcfcjpertificates -
0it having it made in partial
is so smaij that iitue oenenx is reauzea. : : . "
ELECTION YEARS COME TOO OFTEN
THE publisher of the News-Record made the statement
recently that election years come too often. , Since we
made that statement; we have had some people to agree
with us that we are correct in that statement, and up to
the present time no one has come forward to say we are
wrong. If there are those who think differently, we
should be very glad indeed to have them come forward and
give their reason. If their reasons are sufficient to change
us in our contention that elections should be changed to
come not oftener than every four or five years, we shall be
ionly too glad to fall in with the present custom; but if no
S such reasons are advanced, we shall feel that we are justi-
fled in our contention. There are many reasons why elec
tions come too often, but in this as in all questions, there
may be two sides. f But until we hear something on the
other side of the question, we shall 1)6 inclined to the opin
ion that there is Only one side to this question. ;If so, cer-
tainly someone should start a movement to change our
constitution, : and we would about as soon be the one to
' start it as not " Some one may say we are foolish to tart
something so impossible to put into .effect. But in almost
; every reform, somebody has to be the goat, and itwe could
start something that would in years to come prove to be a
blessing to our country we should feel fully repaid, even ;
- if the results are not seen in our day and generation.
V It is simply too expensive, viewed from many stand
points, to hold elections every two yearsJ Officers xould
- afford to serve for smaller salaries if they could know that
when they are elected they could hold the office long e--nough
to save something before going through another ex
pensive campaign. . 't,f
SAMS FOR CONGRESS AND
. - PRITCHARD- FOR SENATE ' : v
D
R, W, A. Sams pf Marshall
Ders as a candidate for
by a representative of this paper as to whether he would T
run he said that hundreds of people have approached him
and urged him to become a candidate, but as yet he is not
ready to make a decision as to whether to run or notA H
admits that ne feels highly honored to be thus approached,
and expects before another issue of this paper comes out
to be ready to make some definite statement. r a t
Honorable George M. Pritchard has announced that
he will not be a candidate for re-election to congress, ;-
However, his friends are urging him to enter for the-Unit,
led States Senate; Mt, Pritchard says that he is not yet 5
ready to make a statement as to,. whether. -he will run or ,
Marshall is noted for its great men. Of course Ashe-;
ville would claim Mr. Pritchard at the present time, but he
is not only a native of Marshall, but his wife is also, and -he
has a summer home here. , Hence Marshall has. more .,
than one reason to feel proud of Mr. Pritchard and to wish j
that he shall be elected to the United States Senate, should
he decide to run. Marshall's illustrious men include not
only Mr, Pritchard, but his father also before him Judge
Jeter Pritchard. Judze McElroy and others are amonsr "
.pur distinguished men, and
red to hsve snci
The fact e-t "r.
!i a D
BT ion la won r'
r!::hsrd is a 1
l'tt' -
orgknt while bells,' hymns,1 prayers,
f Scripture, preaching, are all pregnant
jtnflUeitces,. and,, perhaps, still deeper
and more 'potent unconscious influ
ences; that help in the great moment
)un of: evolution,' the push upwards
haff God and nature have so deeply
implanted as the most precious thing
for without some church home, some
of the best an highest things in the
soul remain homeless and vagrant."
Stanley Hall.''
they lean prove that their dis
Jt ?! ''.'.iV . . f ,
payments, leaen one oi wn;cn
is being mentioned in the pa-
congress." When interviewed
Marshall would feI Quite hon-
-3 namely Dr. rams.
ubL'can rr.-Cair.s-
r ...nf.. . . t
' -
--
JOHN DAVIS CONVICTED : OF ,
Sealrace Net Yet Proaoae4 By ,
- Judge MaeRae ' V. U
-John Davis was found guilty of
manslaughter Wednesday afternoon,
the jury being eut two or three hours.
The regular criminal term of the
Superior Court convened Monday,
Feb. 24th, 1930, with Judge Cameron
F. MaoRae of Asheville presiding.
The calendar was called which con
tained 121 cases, including the cases
of murder, in State vs. John- Davis
for the murder of Bunt Roberts last
June, and State vs. Sampson Landers
and Arnold Landers charged with
murder of Albert King and Arthur
Stanton. The defendant, John Davis,
FIRE DESTROYS
RESIDENCE AT
MARS HILL
Home of M .
troyed Early
Will Rnnnion Do.
V-dnosday Morning
The eight-room residence of Mrs.
Will Runnion of Mars Bill was com
pletely destroyed by Are about one or
two o'clock Wednesday morning. The
old colonial residence was situated on
Main Street, next to and north of the
N. S. Whitaker residence. Mrs. Run
nion had a stroke of paralysis about
two months ago; and since that, time
has been practically helpless. ' Her
two sons, Nathan and William, stay
with her at night They had a little
are in tne room aajoiniog sun,
nion's, but.at the time the fire broke
out everyea C!waaiasleep, iftenee,s;ft
bad ained constderahle '.twadwa.ba-.
sons 'toot .thetf motner joverco ,we
Whitaker residence. The fire Jght-
ing force responded promptly and
practically everybody in Mars Hill,
both men and women, students and
faculty, were at the scene to render
any possible assistance; however, the
flames were so hot that hardly any
thing could be saved only a few
pictures and a trunk. It took brave
fighting to save Mr. Whitaker's resi
dence from serious damage.
There seems to be some question
as to whether the insurance which
had been carried on the house, was
still in force. Mr. Marion Edwards
and Mr. Kenneth Murray seemed to
be the only ones who received any
injury during the fire fighting, their
injuries being slight.
ITEMS FROM MARS HILL BY
REGULAR CORRESPONDENT
Womnn' CUb Holds Fobruary Moot
The Mars Hill Woman's Club held
its regular meeting Thursday evening
Feb. 20 in the Teachers' Parlor of
Spillman Home. The public welfare
department with Mrs. E. Ri Elmore
as chairman was in charge of the pro
gram. Mrs. uoroett, . county , cnair-
man of illiteracy, had been asked to
come and give her program oh that
subject, and she and Mrs, Davis of
Hot Springs were presented by Mrs.
Elmore, They gave a most inform
ing program based on the fact that
there is in. progress a nation .wide;
campaign to reduce illiteracy before
the 1980, census is taken - in. April.
Figures ; based on the 1920 census;
' were given showing the need for work
in our county and state. Some im
, portent facts that were brought out-
are! "Noith Carolina .stood 41st. a-
mong the states from the top in total
illiteracy, having a total ,of:-0L844
; white illiterates, .or .more . than the
combined total illiterates in Colorado
1 Delaware, Idaho, North Dakota, Iowa,
. Oregon, South Dakota K and ; Utah,
j (2) In 1920 flliteracy ranged from
8.4 per cent in Buncombe county to
.22.4 per eent in Edgecombe county,
'j with Madison being 12 per - e"ent
' (5) !Ths 1920 census showed that
- there were 204,492 X Illiterates J. in
" North Carolina of voting age and
that the stat had a total of 205,932
" Illiterates in rural communities corn
spared with 85,671 illiterates m urban
'centers. , (4) j This only states '. In
'the Union with more illiteracy than
' "North Carolina were Alabama, Geor-
gia, Louisiana, New" York; Pennsji-
vatiia and Texas.. -TT.cse fsfts rtst a
'iaeA - e i-a lv r'o:'i C i tj 1
MANSLAUGHTER' BY JURY
'A'
went on trial Tuesday A. M. The
Solicitor for i the State announced
that be State would not ask foi ver
dict ' of murder in (first degree, but
for murder in second degree or
manslaughter, or whatever the evk
dence will warrant. The; following,
jurors were selected to pass upon the
case:- G. W. Mashburn, G A. Wad
dell, B. L. Robinson, W. H. English,
E. L. Slankenship, M. A. Griftln, D.
Buckner, W. M Shipley, J. E. Thom
as,' Wiley Reece, Edisel Cook, W. W.
Cutshall. Representing the State
weret Solicitor Robert M.' Wells, as-
sisted by Mr. Robert R. Reynolds of
Asheville. The defense lawyers were
Messrs. ' John McElroy, J. Coleman
Ramsey; and Guy Roberts. The first
witness was Dr. H. B. Ditmore, of
Marion, ' formerly 0f Marshall, who
testified as to the location of the
bullet holes in the body of the de
ceased Roberts. Sheriff Bab Ramsey,
the next witness on the stand, testi
fied as to being in that Doe Branch
section with a view to capturing blind
tigers and that he had deputized
John Davis to locate a still that was
quite well known to be in those quar
ters. John Davis, the defendant,
next called to the stand, made rather
a poor witness, becoming more or less
confused in his testimony. The star,
witness was George Buckner, a Ne-,
groj who was the only eye-witness to
the shooting. 1 -
.The -defendants, Sampson Landers
and Arnold Landers, were arraigned ,
before' the court for murder in the
fliWtdcsree, which; was taken up. i
Wednesday, and a special venire of j
100 men were ' summoned from which
tor'aelpct Juryt -: .:"'
Sjb&ieejef against Zee Treadway 4U
t'if$kiu Buchanaar for ? .
'and; EarcBny, James fames for trans
port&g, Somflv Meatlows an'4 Marion'
WeUL-zor custuriung puouc worsnip, ,
and Foot Landers for assault" and
sale of liquor, Carl Holt for mann? .
facturing liquor, Doreey Lunsford for.
abandonment, Henry Thomas for bill ,
of cost, John Ferguson, Chas. Grif
fin, Bill Griffin and Talmadge Met
calf, Wrathy Thomas, for transport
ing and operating car intoxicated; E
lisha Rice and Lloyd Rice for manu
facturing liquor (the defendants
Rice having forfeited their bond) ;.
J. J. Baldwin for false pretense;
Fred R. Wild, 2 cases for worthless
checks; Steve Bishop, 2 cases for
disturbing public worship -and carry
ing a concealedweapbta, Violet Gqs-
nell for F&A, ware.nol prossedjnth
leave of the Solicitor to take them ,
up again if the defendants should be
apprehended. -Wade Austin and John
Austin, who were convicted . about a '
year ago, appeared and showed good
behavior and were discharged. JU
C. Burnett good behavior shown and "
was discharged. Bill Doaa and How
ard Miller showed good behavior and
were discharged. Abe Price was
called and failed to appear, as he
was hound to do, and sci fa ordered
issued to bondsman and capias for de
fendant. Steve Lunsford, 'indicted in
6. cases, has hot, Wen taken. ' He Is,
charged in S casea for C. C. W'one
for drunkenness and for violation of
prohibition laws, - and has not been
arrested, capias ordered issued.
In the case of State vs. Roy Howel
for bill of cost was continued until
May term da defendant paying S25.00
on . his bill 0' cost. In the case of
State vs. Bruce Holt charged with
transporting and larceny and was given-
12 months on roads. The case of
State vs. . Dan. Martin,. Jr., and . Dan
Martin Sr, and W. E. Buckner for
bill cf cost was remanded to W R.-
"SamVftEd.there to be settled.
" A. true bill was returned against
Carudus Higgins for the murder of
his nepher in the California Creek
lection. The defendant will be tried
at May term of court. ' ' '
- True bills were- returned against
Walter Rathbone for C C W, Sam
Hensley for forgery of a check in
sum of 1 50.1)0 which' he -had given to
AftP etore for groceries and cash.
The' check - was forged , on Elmer
Tweed of White Rocfc ;, ,v ? v.
..Two true, bills were jreturned a
gainst June UcDevitt f or C C W and
aaa, -.True bills- were retm-ri- a
gainst. Major-Davis nd Floyd T'a
for C 1 " ' n tf V r; -
f- C f - r - r -
I
'to
'"i